Middle Grade Monday: Home Away from Home by Cynthia Lord

Image: Scholastic Inc.

Home Away from Home by Cynthia Lord. 224 p. Scholastic Inc. April, 2023. (Review of a purchased copy.)

Happy Monday! I am enjoying this break in the heat and HUMIDITY! It was a brisk 60 degrees here in northern NJ at 5:30 AM this morning as compared to 80 at the same time on Saturday! Crazy.

Middle Grade Monday features by Cynthia Lord. Eleven-year-old Mia is looking forward to spending her summer in Maine with her grandmother. She needs a break from her parents, who each have new partners and she can't wait to get out in nature and bird. She finds changes at grandma's house though. First, there's a stray cat named Miss Agatha, then, there's a boy, named Cayman. He's a little too chummy with Mia's grandmother and she's jealous. When the two set out to view the eagle's nest, they spy a large white bird of prey attacking the nest that they can't identify. Mia takes a picture of it and posts it to an online birding community, and soon their quiet village is inundated with birders eager to see the rare gyrfalcon. Some of the birders are less than ethical and actually endanger the bird and Mia realizes that her actions have put the bird in jeopardy. She also alienates Cayman and needs to set things right.

This thoughtful coming-of-age story features well-developed characters who struggle realistically with changes that life sometimes brings. The descriptions of the flora and fauna of the Maine coast are also vivid. Fans of the author will not be disappointed. Some readers might be inspired to grab some binoculars and head out to do some birding!

Middle Grade Monday and Audiobook Review: The List of Things That Will Not Change by Rebecca Stead

Image: Penguin Random House

The List of Things That Will Not Change by Rebecca Stead. Unabridged -audiobook. ~ 297 minutes. Read by Rachel L. Jacobs. Listening Library, April, 2020. 9780593155370. (Review of e-audiobook downloaded from public library.)

Middle Grade Monday features The List of Things That Will Not Change by Rebecca Stead. This sweet, character-driven novel is told in the first person by twelve-year-old Bea. When her parents divorced, they presented her with a notebook filled with a list of things that will not change in Bea's life, then committed to remaining amicable as they co-parented Bea. Now Bea's dad is remarrying and she's thrilled because, not only does she love Jesse, she will finally have a sister! Jesse has a daughter who lives in California. 

Not all is smooth sailing though. Bea struggles with anxiety and has a bit of a temper. She's working through these issues with a supportive therapist. When she finally meets Jesse's daughter, she finds that Sonia is less-than-thrilled to share her father with Bea, especially since Bea gets to live with him. 

Conversational and engaging, this novel quietly entrances. Ms. Stead excels at creating thoughtful tween characters. New-to-me narrator Rachel L. Jacobs' performance was well-paced. She has a youthful voice and embodied Bea's quixotic personality beautifully. 

The List of Things That Will Not Change belongs in all library collections. Stead's many fans will clamor for it.

Middle Grade Monday and Arc Review: Dear Sweet Pea by Julie Murphy

Image: HarperCollins Publishers

Dear Sweet Pea by Julie Murphy. 288 p. Balzer + Bray/ HarperCollins Publishers, October 1, 2019. 9780062473073. (Review of arc courtesy of publisher.)

Middle Grade Monday features Dear Sweet Pea by Julie Murphy. Happy book birthday tomorrow to Dear Sweet Pea, Murphy's middle grade debut. Older readers might be familiar with Murphy's YA fare, Dumplin' and Puddin'. 

Patricia "Sweet Pea" DiMarco's parents are getting a divorce. They want to keep things civilized and easy for Sweet Pea, so her father buys a nearly identical house two doors down the block. It's a little weird spending half the week in her dad's new house. She has belongings in both places, only her cat, Cheese remains at mom's house. Each time she changes houses she passes Miss Flora Mae's house. Miss Flora Mae is usually in her sun room working on her advice column, "Miss Flora Mae I?" Sweet Pea is fascinated by her. She has even written to her asking for advice and wonders why Miss Flora Mae did not write back. At school, she's stuck sitting near her ex-best friend, Kiera, who disses her at every opportunity. Luckily, her new best friend, Oscar is there to prop her up.

When Miss Flora Mae has to go away for a few weeks, she asks Sweet Pea to tend to her plants and forward her mail. She's very particular about how she wants Sweet Pea to perform these duties. One day, Sweet Pea spies a letter with familiar handwriting on it and decides to open it. Once she reads it, she writes her advice and mails it to Miss Flora Mae's editor. Seeing her words published gives Sweet Pea such a thrill that she can't resist answering a few more letters. What can go wrong?

Whelp, I devoured this in one sitting. Murphy makes a splash with her middle grade debut here. It's wonderful! Great voice, terrific characters, funny and relatable. I would love to reread this with my ears. Sweet Pea is matter-of-fact about being a bit overweight. Her parents do not make an issue of it. They are also attentive and involved in her life. She's a thoughtful seventh grader who is distracted by most things most seventh graders are distracted by. 

Readers who want a gentle, humorous story about navigating family changes, friendship changes and school will love Sweet Pea. Highly recommended!

Middle Grade Monday and Audiobook Review: Blended by Sharon Draper

Blended by Sharon Draper. Unabridged downloadable audiobook. 5 hours. Narrated by the author. Simon & Schuster Audio, 2018. 9781508258780. (Review of e-audio downloaded from public library. Own hc.) 

Middle Grade Monday features Blended by Sharon Draper. Eleven year old Isabella is a piano prodigy. She loves her piano and is preparing for a concert. What she doesn't love is her parents divorce. It hasn't helped their arguing. She splits her time evenly between her black father's expensive home and her white mother's more modest home. Each have a partner and when they both decide to marry on the same day, fireworks erupt. 

Isabella's first-person narration is often humorous and always spot-on. She yearns to fit in but doesn't know where. She loves both her parents and their partners. But she can't stand that she doesn't look like she belongs with either of them and she especially doesn't like the prying questions.

One can bet that a new Draper book will tackle tough issues head-on. Blended has a few and they are done well. Her father is the one in the large house. Her mom is solidly working class. She plays on a Casio portable piano at her mom's house; but she loves that as much as the more expensive piano at her dad's. The near tragedy at the end of the story is appropriately middle grade yet still hammers home the scariness of racial profiling.

As narrator of her own work, she's able. I'm sure she did a great read aloud when she was an LA teacher. This felt like that - a read aloud and not a performance. Isabella is eleven. There are some narrators out there that sound eleven. This makes for a better audiobook. That said, she didn't decimate her work, which is what some authors do.

Between that gorgeous cover and the fact that it's a new Draper, Blended will not sit on your shelf.